This week, Mrs Bragoli, during our house assembly, asked Beech to consider:

Have you ever felt as though you are not able to complete a task or are wanting to give up?

This is something that we have all felt from time to time.  Resilience is ‘the ability to cope when faced with challenges in life’ and Mrs Bragoli shared with Beech some inspirational stories about people who have faced real challenges and risen to them.  One of these people, Mrs Bragoli talked about was someone I knew little about before our assembly was the competitive surfer Bethany Hamilton.

Bethany, Mrs Bragoli told us, learnt to surf at a young age but lost her arm at 13 years old due to a shark attack.  This, however, did not stop her from pursuing the thing she loved: surfing.  A mere one month after this attack, she was back on the waves again competing for titles.  Mrs Bragoli summed this up:

“Her willpower, dedication and resilience allowed her to bounce back and return to surfing.”

Resilience, Mrs Bragoli shared, is all about being about to ‘bounce back’ and to think positively.  She suggested student, when faced with challenges, ask for help and share work collaborative with a ‘Can do’ attitude.

Bushey Meads School is all about having a ‘Growth Mindset’ and Bethany Hamilton was a great example of this.  I particularly liked what Bethany had to say:

Which very much remained in the mind of all students who were privilege to participate in a thoughtful and inspiring house assembly.